Cities of Light: The Rise And Fall of Islamic Spain

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Cities of Light: The Rise and Fall of Islamic Spain is a story of epic sweep, stunning triumph, and ultimate tragedy about the rise and fall of one of the world's great civilizations. We have additional information on our website devoted to the film, www.islamicspain.tv.

The film takes viewers on an epic journey back into one of the most important periods of world history. Called "fascinating" by the Wall Street Journal, this historical documentary utilizes feature-film style re-enactments to bring to life the 700 year long history of the European Islamic civilization of Muslim Spain. It tells of the triumphs and shortcomings, achievements and ultimate failures of a centuries-long period when Muslims, Christians, and Jews inhabited the same far corner of Western Europe and built a society that lit the Dark Ages.

Cities of Light: The Rise and Fall of Islamic Spain shows how it was possible for Muslims, Christians, and Jews to co-exist and thrive together-and yet how fragile that union can be when religious extremism begins to rise. The glories of Islamic Spain are beautifully rendered, but the film does not flinch when vividly portraying the violence and horror that ultimately engulfed it. The story is both an inspiration and a warning about what awaits civilizations that cooperate and those that clash to a world at the crossroads.

Cities of Light Reviews

... [I]ssues of religious intolerance continue to divide nations. [Cities of Light] serves as an example of both the glories of a multicultural society and the tensions that arise when one religious or political faction tries to force their ideas onto the society as a whole.

News Blaze

The official theme of this fascinating documentary, [Cities of Light] is how "greed, fear and intolerance" along with "puritanical judgments and absolutism" destroyed a multicultural paradise of the Middle Ages. The subtheme is that Muslims, Jews and Christians can all live together happily if they try.

Wall Street Journal

Very much to its credit, Cities of Light draws commentary from a wide range of scholars Muslim, Christian and Jewish. It also makes a compelling case for why Islamic Spain, a civilization that lasted longer than the Roman Empire, is not just a golden age of Islam, but is a catalyst for the European Renaissance. And it's a cautionary tale of how fanaticism in any religious belief can be deadly.

North County Times

Cities of Light: The Rise and Fall of Islamic Spain a fascinating, intelligent and extremely well-done documentary about Spain under Islamic rule....

The Jewish Week

Members of each faith lived in communities that were often separate yet intertwined. Jewish, Muslim and Christian courts enforced separate laws. But Jewish merchants plied their trade to Christians and Muslims – and vice versa. A Muslim ruler appointed a Jewish scholar to head his army. Christian rulers from Europe sent their finest scholars to study in Al-Andalus. [Cities of Light]